Live @ 2012 Ryan White: Health Care Reform

Live @ 2012 Ryan White: Health Care Reform

November 29, 2012

TARGET Center

Multiple workshops at Ryan White 2012 focused on the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—the biggest change in health care law since Medicare and Medicaid over 40 years ago.

ACA is expanding access to coverage for all Americans, including Ryan White clients. Today, nearly two thirds of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are getting help with their HIV/AIDS care needs from government programs (Medicaid, Medicare, Ryan White), according to How the Affordable Care Act Helps People Living with HIV/AIDS: 2011 and Beyond. Thirteen percent are covered by private insurance and 24 percent have no coverage.

By 2014, as a result of ACA, millions of individuals will be access insurance on the individual or small group market via Marketplaces. Among them will be millions of individuals who will be able to access private insurance options through tax credits and subsidies and millions more who will become eligible for Medicaid (and the dually eligible under Medicaid/Medicare) as coverage expands under ACA--including Ryan White clients and others covered by programs like CHIP.

Preparing for Change

Several workshops focused on work underway in California, like Alameda County (The Future Arrives: The Intersection of Ryan White and Health Reform in a California EMA, Workshop G-12). Kathleen Clanon (Pacific AETC Clinical Director) offered a number of tips for Ryan White programs to prepare for changes in HIV/AIDS care, including:

Seek and secure status as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).

Determine how to work within networks of care (e.g., Medicaid managed care, pharmacy networks).

Diversify funding.

Prepare for an insured client base.

Look to establish data sharing agreements.

Think strategically about how Ryan White can fill gaps in care in this new environment.

Re-fund benefits counseling.

Keeping abreast of reform activities.

Recap: ACA Sessions at Ryan White 2012

Below is a summary of ACA-related sessions held at the 2012 grantee meeting, although the topic certainly came up far more frequently in other workshops and hallway conversations.